Watch Dogs Benchmarked, Performance Review

Set in an alternate reality techno-dystopian Chicago, Watch Dogs hit every gamer's holiday wishlist after appearing at E3 2012. The open world hackfest wowed onlookers with its urban stealth action and its seemingly 'next-gen' graphics. Unfortunately, a month before its November 2013 release the game was delayed for another six months, causing Ubisoft's stock to drop some 40%.

The game has been built on the studio's new 'Disrupt' engine, which was mostly constructed from scratch but includes parts of AnvilNext and Dunia, two Ubisoft engines used in Assassin's Creed as well as Far Cry 2 and 3.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding Watch Dog's graphics approaching its launch but ultimately the game looks amazing when set to ultra on the PC. The visuals are spectacular and I found myself often being drawn away from the gameplay to admire how great it all looked.